DRX vs. Sentinels – VALORANT Masters Bangkok Swiss Stage: DRX looks great in opening series win

DRX and Sentinels have only played a couple of times in VALORANT, believe it or not. The most recent was at Champions 2024, where SEN won the contest. Now, we get DRX vs. Sentinels a third time, in the opening round of the VALORANT Masters Bangkok Swiss Stage.

Both of these are teams with quite the legacy in the esports. DRX was once Vision Strikers, with their lengthy winning streak. Sentinels won the first Masters ever and hoisted a trophy just last year. They'll finish off the first day of play in Bangkok, setting the tone for the rest of the event.

DRX is coming into Masters Bangkok as the top team from the Pacific region. Many are selling that region short, so you can hear some words from their players during the pre-event press conference. Still, they're at a Masters event for a reason and they're the number one seed from their league.

When it comes to Sentinels, they are in a familiar spot. They won Masters Madrid to start the year in 2024, but this time, they're coming in as the second seed. They fell in Kickoff to G2, but still have the firepower to put on a show.

With DRX vs. Sentinels, expect a clash of regional styles. We might see some brutal Tejo on Tejo action, and of course, Yoru taking center stage with the Duelists. It should be a scrappy battle and absolutely the better team will come out on top.

There are several official VALORANT channels on Twitch and YouTube, provider viewers a variety of languages to watch in. Co-streamers also have access to showcase the series. Stick around with us, though, as we have a stream embedded right below for your convenience.

Read on as we give you a rundown of each map, including some clips to highlight the action. We'll press that update button each half of the game.

Here we go. DRX started on Attack and got the first pistol round of the series against Sentinels. That sent them up easily for a second round. Superior weapons going into the bonus allowed SEN to get on the board, however. Next came a Flawless round by DRX to get their momentum back.

There was nothing flashy happening in the early goings of Lotus. It was just domination by VCT Pacific's #1 Seed. A heroic play by bang finally stopped the bleeding, and another good round by him allowed SEN to start pushing back. DRX would halt them again, though, having a solid lead heading into the half.

The second half would need to start of hot for SEN, but that didn't happen. They were shut down in the pistol round by a free1ing Ace, followed by a Flawless victory to get them to 11. Even the bonus went the way of DRX, putting them at map point.

The Pacific Kickoff winners wasted no time in finishing off the first map. Lotus was SEN's map pick, making things look rough for the rest of the series going forward. And this could propel DRX to yet another first round win in an international tournament.

Haven started much slower than the previous map, and SEN took the lead first. They'd get a Flawless next to go up by two. DRX would take the bonus to get a round and quickly tie it up. DRX got ahead, but SEN kept things close much better than on Lotus.

SEN pulled ahead, making the most of their positioning on their Attacker side, but a great defuse setup by DRX allowed it to remain tight. That gave them the momentum to tie it up. And back and forth they'd go for the last couple of rounds, keeping it 6:6 at halftime.

Another great pistol round in this one from free1ng, with a 3K, gets DRX ahead after halftime. A two round lead soon followed. And with that, they just kept rolling towards another map victory to put this one away.

DRX hit double digit rounds, showing a more powerful Attacker side than Sentinels. SEN eventually fixed their mistakes and put some rounds up, including a 4K round by bang. It was bang that would continue carrying rounds for SEN, but a one-man show was not enough to stop DRX from taking the series.

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